Introduction
The goal of the And Project is to create a space to explore identity and intersectionality. As you walk through the following lessons, you will gain a deeper understanding of intersectionality and related topics. Here is the lesson plan:
Lesson 1 – Defining Intersectionality
Lesson 2 – Mapping and Defining Your Identity
Lesson 3 – Personal Intersectionality Journey
Lesson 4 – Intersectionality in the Workplace
Lesson 5 – Beyond the And Project
Each lesson includes a collection of videos, key concepts, and other resources. We want to acknowledge that we have curated this space and do not claim ownership of the videos and resources created by others.
We encourage you to journal as you work through each lesson. Reflect on your feelings and the new things you learn. This kind of learning will be very personal and may bring out a variety of emotions.
One more thing! We wanted to provide you with a complete list of key terms and concepts for easy reference. You can download it, keep it in a separate browser tab, or print it out.
Thank you for taking the time to engage in this learning. You may navigate to Lesson 1.
Defining Intersectionality
So what is intersectionality? Intersectionality explains the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect, especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups. The term was initially introduced by Scholar, Professor, and Critical Race Theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw.
This video covers the definition and history of intersectionality:
Important Terms & Concepts:
Antiracism
If racism means both racist action and inaction in the face of racism, then antiracism means active participation in combating racism in all forms.
In Context: “No one becomes ‘not racist,’ despite a tendency by Americans to identify themselves that way. We can only strive to be ‘antiracist’ on a daily basis, to continually rededicate ourselves to the lifelong task of overcoming our country’s racist heritage.” (Source,Source)
BIPOC
Black, Indigenous, People of Color. BIPOC aims to unite all people of color while also acknowledging the unique history of oppression, systemic racism, and cultural erasure that Black and Indigenous people face. BIPOC is a way of creating greater recognition and inclusion of these marginalized groups.
In Context: “While POC has become a useful way to describe people of non-white backgrounds from all over the world, there is an emerging awareness that there is a need to include more people and acknowledge that some groups are often left out of the conversation. Indigenous people, for example, are often excluded from discussions of race issues.” (Source)
Intersectionality vs Identity
Identity: refers to an aspect of who a person is. “The term identity refers to a person’s individual expression of himself or herself (personal identity) or group affiliation in reference to a culture, nation, gender, or religion (social identity). Identity can be described as distinctive characteristics of a person or groups of different affiliations. It refers to degrees of sameness with other persons or groups in a particular field.” (Source)
Intersectionality: the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups. (Source)
IIn Context: An intersectional approach to identity refers to the idea that we all occupy more than one identity position and that individuals can simultaneously benefit from power and be marginalized by lack of power.
There is nuance to how intersectionality can affect an individual. The And Project crew thought storytelling would be the best way to capture that complexity. In this and the following lessons, you will watch videos of Grand Rapids community members as they speak about their lived experiences and perspectives on intersectionality.
Our guests include Dr. Lisa Lowery, Dilli Gautam, Erica Soto, Riaka Shackelford, and Gs Suri. You can read more about these incredible humans in this site’s Featured Voices section.
Let’s hear what they have to say about what intersectionality means to them:
Take a moment to think about how intersectionality may impact the different realms of people’s lives.
Let’s move into Lesson 2 to learn about mapping and defining your identity.
Mapping and Defining Your Identity
It is believed that we segment our collective identity into the “Big 8” socially constructed identities. Those 8 are race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, religion/spirituality, nationality, and socioeconomic status. Some people’s identities grant them privilege, and other parts of their identity may cause significant barriers. Identifying the multiple facets of yourself is crucial in the work of identifying and dismantling oppressive systems.
In the video below, Cordell will teach you an exercise to better understand your identity and how you may be impacted by systems thriving today.
Important Terms & Concepts:
Gender Identity
The sense of “being” male or “being” female. For most people, gender identity is in accord with their physical anatomy. For transgender people, gender identity may differ from physical anatomy or expected social roles. It is important to note that gender identity, biological sex, and sexual orientation are not necessarily linked.
Scenario: asking a person their preferred pronouns would help alleviate the assumption of one’s gender identity. (Source)
Privilege
Refers to certain social advantages, benefits, or degrees of prestige and respect that an individual has by virtue of belonging to certain social identity groups. Within American and other Western societies, these privileged social identities—of people who have historically occupied positions of dominance over others—include whites, males, heterosexuals, Christians, and the weathy, among others. (Source)
As you think about your identity, listen in and see how our featured speakers reflect on their identities:
Think about your own identity: How do you identify? What parts of your identity are the most meaningful to you? Grab a piece of paper and create your personal identity map.
Before we move into the next lesson, let’s hear Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw speak on the critical difference between identity and intersectionality:
Remember: the term ‘intersectionality’ has only been conceptualized for about 50 years, but its experience is nothing new!
Let’s move into Lesson 3 to hear the stories of our guest’s personal intersectionality journeys.
Personal Intersectionality Journey
In this lesson, our featured speakers will reflect on how their own identities have impacted their experiences within their communities. We implore you to take in their stories to better understand how your identity has shaped your life experiences. Watch it now:
Important Terms & Concepts:
Diversity
The collective mixture of similarities and differences among a company’s employees such as age, individual and organizational characteristics, values, beliefs, experiences, cultural background, religion, race, gender, physical abilities and disabilities, and sexual orientation.
Scenario: Diversity is often used as a catchall to define a multitude of things. As the definition above states, it does encompass a myriad of things, but this is applicable ONLY in comparison to others and within a group setting. An individual, and in this case a candidate can not be diverse. An individual’s unique traits do not make them diverse. However, a group of 5 candidates varying in race, gender, and experience makes the pool of candidates diverse. (Source)
Inclusion
Embracing, leveraging, and celebrating the strengths of our diversity and ensuring everyone feels welcomed and valued for who they are. (Source)
Race vs Ethnicity
In the simplest of terms and relative to the workplace, race (inherent, based on biology) is what’s asked on an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) form, while ethnicity (acquired, cultural influence) is a subset of one’s race.
Example: Race= Black. Ethnicity= African American. Black DOES NOT equal African American (as one could be Jamaican American, etc.). (Source)
Although the And Project aims to educate and highlight the personal journeys of others, it is just as vital to look back at your own journey. We believe the more we can better understand our own identity, the better we can help others in their own journey.
Here are a few more examples from an Intersectionality 101 video:
Self-reflection is a practice essential to our personal intersectional journey. It will also prepare you as you move into Lesson 4: Intersectionality in the Workplace.
Intersectionality in the Workplace
Bringing a lens of intersectionality into the workplace is crucial to understanding the nuances of discrimination and power. Let’s listen to our featured speakers tell their stories of how their identities have helped and harmed them professionally:
Important Terms & Concepts:
Emotional Tax
The combination of being on guard to protect against bias, feeling different at work because of gender, race, and/or ethnicity, and the associated effects on health, well-being, and ability to thrive at work.
Scenario: an employee who identifies as Black comes into work after seeing in the news that members of the Black community were attacked over the weekend. The employee must contain the complexity of their emotions while remaining present at work and engaged with their team. (Source)
Implicit Bias vs. Explicit Bias
Explicit (Conscious) Bias: one is very clear about their feelings and attitudes, and related behaviors are conducted with intent.
Implicit (Unconscious) Bias: operates outside of one’s awareness and can be in direct contradiction to one’s espoused beliefs and values. What is so dangerous about implicit bias is that it automatically seeps into one’s effect or behavior and is outside of the full awareness of that person.
In context: Microaggressions are actionable forms of implicit bias. Racial and sexual slurs are forms of explicit bias.
Example: favoring a candidate that attended your alma matter is a form of implicit bias. Although unintentional, the action unconsciously influences one’s decision. (Source)
Intercultural Sensitivity & Competence
Intercultural sensitivity is about appreciating the deeper impact of cultural differences on how we interact with other people and the effect this has on one’s own perceptions of other people. Intercultural competence is a measure of one’s effectiveness in such interactions with other people.
Examples: Participating in unconscious bias training, setting accountability factors to ensure an inclusive environment for employees, creating safe spaces for team members to speak candidly about their experience on the team, and embracing their feedback as tools to implement change. (Source)
Microaggression
Subtle, often unconscious everyday behaviors that often unintentionally denigrate or belittle someone from a historically marginalized or non-dominant group. They are small, but if experienced chronically, a person can feel, “death by a thousand tiny cuts.”
As microaggressions are typically not intentional, these types of instances place a discomfort on the person receiving the act, but also demonstrate thoughtlessness by the person making the comment.
Examples: Misidentifying a person of color for another person of the same race, telling someone they sound articulate, shortening someone’s name without their permission. (Source)
Let’s look at a real-life example of how intersectionality can be used to discriminate:
In Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s article, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics,” she reviews three cases. These cases are specific to Black women experiencing discrimination due to the approach of treating race and gender as mutually exclusive categories of experiences. In one case examined, DeGraffenreid v General Motors, five Black women filed suit, stating the seniority system shows the effects of discrimination. General Motors did not hire Black women before 1964. During a recession, all hired after 1970 were let go for a seniority-based layoff, causing Black women to be predominantly affected by the layoff.
The case was dismissed, indicating that there was no case to support either gender or race discrimination. General Motors stated they had hired women (although all had been white women). They also dismissed the claim based on racial discrimination (because they had hired Black men). Ultimately, the courts did not recognize the case based on compounding identities, leading to discrimination specific to Black women. Here is Dr. Crenshaw speaking on this example:
As emphasized in the video, discrimination can get recognition on gender identity OR race discrimination. Still, there was no recognition at the intersection of being a Black woman.
So what are ways can you improve your workplace to be sensitive, competent, and inclusive? Here are some ideas:
~ Workplace affinity groups.
~ Provide consistent opportunities for education and awareness.
~ Internal policy change.
~ Create space for and encourage feedback on workplace culture and policies.
~ Complement feedback with accountability measures.
~ Build intersectionality into your recruitment strategy.
~ Be intentional when leveraging vendor relationships.
~ Encourage and support empathetic leadership.
~ Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Making that positive change in your workplace can start with you! Let’s discover more ways you can be an ally in Lesson 5.
Beyond The And Project
In this lesson, you’ll reflect on how to apply the learnings from this project to better equip you as an ally and advocate. Let’s hear some ideas from our featured guests:
Important Terms & Concepts:
Advocate
A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion advocate is a person who is committed to educating themselves and others about oppression, discrimination, privilege, and other social justice issues, and combating these issues on a personal level. (Source)
Allyship
When a person of privilege works in solidarity and partnership with a marginalized group of people to help take down the systems that challenge that group’s basic rights, equal access, and ability to thrive in our society. (Source)
Colorblindness
A popular diversity model or ideology that on the surface reflects pro-diversity intentions but in practice suppresses diversity and elevates sameness.
In context: “I don’t see color” and “We’re all one race, the human race” are common expressions of colorblindness. However, we cannot help but see differences; it’s unavoidable. Pretending that those differences are not there does not eliminate discrimination. (Source)
Corporate Social Responsibility
A type of business self-regulation with the aim of being socially accountable.
Scenario: doing your due diligence to ensure one receives interview feedback regarding each candidate after each round to ensure fair interview practices. (Source)
Equal vs Equitable
Equality has to do with giving everyone the exact same resources, whereas Equity involves distributing resources based on the needs of the recipients.
Scenario: 3 intern candidates are asked to come on-site for an in-person interview. Equality: all 3 will receive mileage reimbursement for their commute. Equity: one student who does have their own vehicle is provided financial support for a rental car to get to the interview. (Source)
Racial Capitalism
A problematic practice where an individual or group is deriving social and economic value from the racial identity of another person. (Source)
Allyship is essential when it comes to dismantling systems of oppression. In 2019, DiversityInc CEO Carolynn Johnson discussed the complexity of allyship on the Karen Hunter Show. She mentioned a conversation with a white male who was “too scared” to speak up at a local DEI event. She was quoted telling the man, “First and foremost, thank you for being here, but we’re looking for participation — we’re not looking for perfection.” Watch the full interview here:
Often one can get stuck in analysis paralysis. This is the inability to take action due to overthinking the problem. As champions for equity, we will not be perfect. We will make mistakes and face challenges, but we must take action.
Thank you so much for going on this journey with us! If you want to keep the learning going, we have more articles and videos under the Resources section of this site.
We hope you enjoyed your experience. Please consider filling out the feedback form. Your comments, suggestions, and compliments are welcome!